Is this proof of life on Mars?

[Tank]

Is this proof of life on Mars?

The Curiosity rover is currently on its way to Mars, scheduled to make a dramatic landing within Gale Crater in mid-August and begin its hunt for the geologic signatures of a watery, life-friendly past. Solid evidence that large volumes of water existed on Mars at some point would be a major step forward in the search for life on the Red Planet.

But... has it already been found? Some scientists say yes.

Researchers from universities in Los Angeles, California, Tempe, Arizona and Siena, Italy have published a paper in the International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences (IJASS) citing the results of their work with data obtained by NASA's Viking mission.

The twin Viking 1 and 2 landers launched in August and September of 1975 and successfully landed on Mars in July and September of the following year. Their principal mission was to search for life, which they did by digging into the ruddy Martian soil looking for signs of respiration — a signal of biological activity.

The results, although promising, were inconclusive.

Now, 35 years later, one team of researchers claims that the Viking landers did indeed detect life, and the data's been there all along.

"Active soils exhibited rapid, substantial gas release," the  team's report states. "The gas was probably CO2 and, possibly, other radiocarbon-containing gases."

By applying mathematical complexities to the Viking data for deeper analysis, the researchers found that the Martian samples behaved differently than a non-biological control group.

"Control responses that exhibit relatively low initial order rapidly devolve into near-random noise, while the active experiments exhibit higher initial order which decays only slowly," the paper states. "This suggests a robust biological response."

While some critics of the findings claim that such a process of identifying life has not yet been perfected — not even here on Earth — the results are certainly intriguing... enough to bolster support for further investigation into Viking data and perhaps re-evaluate the historic mission's "inconclusive" findings.

This makes interesting reading. I remember watching the Viking missions with great interest at the time. The failure to find conclusive evidence of ancient life (or not) was disappointing. But the Viking experiments were devised on assumptions about the chemical composition of the Martian soil that has been shown to be incorrect by recent missions. Thus if one revisits the original Viking data and views it in the light of the new understanding of Martian soil chemistry it would appear different conclusions can be drawn.

[Guardian85]

Very interesting stuff. Well worthy of further inquiry.


Just goes to show: When in doubt , send a viking!

(Space Explorers)

[xSilverPhinx]

Looking foward to what The Curiosity (aptly named ) finds.

[Ali]

So are they saying that the soil contained microbes that were involved in some sort of gas exchange (like plants on earth exchanging CO2 for air?) 

The thing that I always think about is that maybe other planets are teeming with life, but we don't recognize it as such because it doesn't look like life on our planet.  And why would it?  Life on our planet evolved to the conditions on our planet.  A planet with vastly different conditions would probably have life evolve in vastly different forms, wouldn't it?

[ablprop]

Intriguing, and the great thing is that as we continue to explore Mars we will one day have an answer.

But here's what I want to know . . . do you want it to be true, or not?

First, just for fun, let's assume that life on Mars is a separate "Genesis", not an example of either Earth life migrating there or Mars life migrating here. Those would both be fascinating, too, but let's ignore them. Suppose this really is a second example of the origin of life in our solar system.

This would mean that life has to be enormously abundant throughout the universe. No way we could have two separate origin events here and none anywhere else. So if life is enormously abundant throughout the universe, we have to face Fermi's question. Why can't we look out into the universe and see evidence of extraterrestrial civilizations? Why aren't the radio frequencies alive with chatter, or at least some sort of signal? What's the stumbling block that makes life itself common but advanced spacefaring civilizations rare? Does life rarely get past the microbe stage? Do "animals" develop often enough, but intelligence itself becomes the obstacle? Is it consciousness that's particularly hard to evolve? Is it the invention of science that's rare (are there whole galaxies of civilizations still in the Dark Ages?)

Or, and this is the scariest one, do civilizations evolve and then promptly wipe themselves out?

If none of the above, then I ask again, where are they?

[markmcdaniel]

I am looking forward to the new mission. It looks like it may provide some very interesting information. As to why we have not detected intelligent life elsewhere. I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

[Tank]

I am looking forward to the new mission. It looks like it may provide some very interesting information. As to why we have not detected intelligent life elsewhere. I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

I concur with your assessment based on our current level of knowledge and understanding of abiogenesis and evolution.

[Siz]

I am looking forward to the new mission. It looks like it may provide some very interesting information. As to why we have not detected intelligent life elsewhere. I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

Do you mean very, very rare or very widely spread?

[technolud]

First, just for fun, let's assume that life on Mars is a separate "Genesis", not an example of either Earth life migrating there or Mars life migrating here. Those would both be fascinating, too, but let's ignore them. Suppose this really is a second example of the origin of life in our solar system.

If this is so, what does this say about the biblical Genisis?  Bible needs a new book?  Sort of prequal?

I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

Based on the pitiful way so many humans act, this might not be a bad thing.

[Tank]

I am looking forward to the new mission. It looks like it may provide some very interesting information. As to why we have not detected intelligent life elsewhere. I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

Do you mean very, very rare or very widely spread?

These two condition are not mutually exclusive, the rarer intelligent is life the more widely spread it will be.

[Ali]

I am looking forward to the new mission. It looks like it may provide some very interesting information. As to why we have not detected intelligent life elsewhere. I suspect that while life may be common. Human type intelligence is very, very rare.

Do you mean very, very rare or very widely spread?

These two condition are not mutually exclusive, the rarer intelligent is life the more widely spread it will be.

Whaaaaa?